After two days, we changed our mind set, and thought "Why not?" Croquette seemed silly, but how hard could it be? We had a blast!!! Sundays blog will be about Uruguayan history and the events that make Uruguay what it is today, but today you are going to hear more about our croquette.
The tournament started at 10:00, but Leo wanted to be there at 9:15 to "warm up" and practice. Mecki is not thrilled to play croquette. Croquette is a way to keep Leo out of her hair for awhile, but she reluctantly was his partner in the tournament since Peter couldn't make it. We drove about 20 minutes down the main street that parrells the ocean. The "Rambla" is on the ocean side (this is the walking path) and all the high rise apartment buildings are on the left side of the street. The croquette court is on a beautiful lot on the main street. It is an amazing piece of property. You cannot see the beach because there are some dunes, but you do see the ocean. What a pretty setting. The court is about 35 yards x 28 yards. We played 1/2 court because there were so many couples. Allen and I played three games and we lost by one point each time. Each game was played to a score of 4. We were given a list of rules, but basically we played two people on a team, (mostly married couples) and there is an order that you hit in that is set by the colors on the post. I went out of order once, and that was a foul. Our first game was with a couple that had not really played much and we were so polite to each other. By the time the game was over we got the idea and knocked their balls away from the hoop and we played dirty. This is the whole point of croquette. Set your ball or your partners ball up to be in the position to go through the hoop. One time I ran over to Leo to tell him that we were winning 3 to 1 against Jonathan and Beatrice! Jonathan is the the one who owns the court and is the "leader of the pack". Well, I figured I had better gloat then, because I knew we were going down and soon after, they beat us. But oh the glory of being ahead for awhile!!!
I think I will move all the furniture out of the basement and set up a court. Anyone in???
We were also pleased to be able to sit and talk to the different couples who have moved to Uruguay to live. Before we left Fairbanks, Marta( our School owner) asked me if we wanted to meet some expats here. My answer was "No, not reallly...(Our experience has been that the people we have met who have moved to other countries are pompous and have not embraced the culture of their environment. They have just acted like jerks who probably had to leave America because no one liked them there. The people we have met in other countries seem to be taking advantage of the lower cost of living and cheaper labor.) this has been our experience anyways...
Well, that is certainly not the case with the people that we have met in Uruguay. It has been really enlightening to talk to people who have left their homes to blend in with another society. There is a different attitude in Uruguayans that is for sure, but all the "foreigners" that we have met have been very nice. It has been nice to talk to them about the differences in their country versus Uruguay and WHY they have chosen Urugay. By the way, that is the first question that every single person has asked us. "Why Uruguay?" We understand that question in Spanish, German, Italitan, and with a British accent.
So "Why Uruguay?" Our answer is... To learn Spanish. To go to Spanish school somewhere other than Mexico. Spain was too expensive, Argentina was too big and Uruguay was just right. Crime is not a problem, the exchange rate is good.The people are very European. We don't stick out like a sore thumb. We really do like it.
Back to croquette. We did not win, but we were not last either. I am ready to go back with Leo on Wednesday or Friday. I could get addicted I think. The game itself is fun, but it was probably most likely the people and conversation. Alaska is ALWAYS a topic of interest. So much better than saying we are from the United States.
Saturday night we are off to Francisco's apartment for dinner. Dinner started at 8;30 which we showed up to at 9:00. Perfect. We took his mom a gift of some dove chocolates that we brought over in our stash of gift items. There were other guests as well. I found my new hairdresser. I can't wait to go to him. I will let my hair grow until the last few days before we leave so he has something more to work with. He was trained in Paris and is very nice. I took my homework book because I thought it was just going to me Francisco and his mom, but there ended up being Juancho (the hairdresser), Cacacho an architect/contractor and Ginny who is realtor. She speaks very good English and she sells mainly to foreigners.
I got out my homework book and it worked out great. Most of the words I have looked up in google translate, but we had to put la for feminine and el for masculine before the noun. How am I supposed to know if a pen is feminine or masculine? It was a perfect time to get the correct answers. It was not really cheating, because I was learning. Juancho was amazing. He would enunciate with me and not get mad after 20 times trying to get me to say the word correctly. Raincoat is very difficult to say in Spanish. He was great. Probably the best enunciator I have worked with. I might ask him to help me again...
The flan was amazing. Very different in consistency from the one that was made before. Allen got another invitation to come make one with mama. Thats pretty cool. We walked home at 1:00 and Allen was dragging down the street complaining that we might not be able to keep this schedule up...I bet we can!
Oh, we also walked Alemendra and Max to the beach. Max is a crack up to watch swim. He is a little german schnauzer and he LOVES the ocean. He sounds like he is dying though. He yelps/cries and makes a very loud sound while swimming. Any bystander would think he was in trouble. He is pretty darn cute.
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